Unexpected Help Came Out of the Darkness

Photo credit: Keith Renninson from "Tenacity"

Unexpected Help Came Out of the Darkness

This is the third installment of my sharing stories from my book “Tenacity” that include reasons to follow my TRIP Technique lifestyle. Strengthening your ability to be filled with tenacity, resilience, imagination, and purpose throughout your life is a very worthy goal for anyone.

I was on the journey of a lifetime, and I knew it. Traveling alone in the Himalayas was filled with adventure and each day gave me a renewed sense of mystery and excitement. I had a two-day bus ride into the foothills of this great mountain range and they were unique to say the least.

On the second day, the bus was filled to the brim with passengers, sacks of grain, the occasional pig and chicken, angry Maoists, and unexpected friends just when I needed them most.

The afternoon was hot and dusty as the Tata bus labored along the rough, dirt mountain roads, crossing streams and meeting other buses on the high cliffs. The drivers would have to back up until there was a wide spot where they could maneuver to let one pass on the outside. The drop was over a thousand feet and harrowing to look at. I found this part of the trip scary, and I wished I could get out and walk while they attempted these passes. Sometimes the two vehicles would scrape their sides to get by, which explained they were always painting them at rest stops.

When we finally got to a stretch where it would be safe to go faster, we moved right along at 35-40 mph. I had a chubby woman standing on a bag of grain in the isle while simultaneously holding on to the roof strap and a chicken. Every time the bus would bounce around the chicken would peck at me and the woman would lean into me to keep her balance. I suffer from claustrophobia and between the heat, dust, and cramped quarters I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I looked for a way out of the situation and settled on a choice that wasn’t much better.

I had noticed that there were several metal ladders on the sides of the buses, and one was right outside my window, so I opened the window as wide as it would go and hoisted myself up and out grabbing the ladder and pulling one rung at a time until I was climbing onto the roof. There were several Nepali boys that worked for the driver putting luggage and cargo on the top sitting nearby. One of them saw me climb up and reached out to pull me next to him before I fell backwards and off the bus. 

They looked at me in amazement and then broke out in laughter. All three of them were young and filled with fun. They taught me a Nepali song and we sang for a while before taking a nap. I was awakened by a Gurkha soldier poking me in the side with his rifle. We had stopped at a checkpoint and they wanted me back on the inside of the bus. It was getting late in the afternoon and the bus was almost empty anyway, so I was glad to get back down.

As it was getting dark a self-proclaimed Maoist boarded and spotted me right away. He didn’t like me, an American, being on the bus and was loud and angry about it. My fear of him was rising as time went by, when the fellow seated behind me tapped me on the shoulder and he whispered that he was a soldier headed home on leave and he had some advice for me.

He told me that the angry man posed a problem for me and that he and several of the other passengers wanted to help me get off the bus in safety, so he told me to rise as soon as the bus stopped in Cavalli our destination. I was to quickly get my backpack and hurry to a counter where I could a room for the night. I followed his directions as the passengers all stood up and formed a barrier between the man and me as I exited. The boy from the roof handed me my backpack as I stepped out of the bus smiling and saying namaste’. In the darkness, I hurried to the one lone light that hung over a counter of a building that I assumed was a hotel. A diesel generator was running loudly spewing exhaust.  I was able to get a room and a meal before bed which was great. My day had been filled with tenacity and resilience and I never saw the Maoist again and was very grateful for the advice I got from a stranger in the dark.

My next episode will cover getting lost on my first day trekking.

Remember to take a TRIP for a lifetime, not a trip of a lifetime.

Keith……